In the August 2006 issue of Money Magazine, an article asks (and attempts to answer) this very question (Does money buy happiness?) You would assume that since it's Money Magazine, the answer would be a resounding YES. But it wasn't. The article didn't say money didn't buy happiness, but it didn't say it necessarily did either.

Money Magazine stated these statistics:

Percent of people who report being "very satisfied" with life:

make less than $20K: 22 percent

make $20K-$49.9K: 30 percent

make $50K-$89.9K: 42 percent

make $90K plus: 43 percent

Can you see the graph in your mind here? There is this threshold where after a certain level of income is attained, more income doesn't buy more happiness.

My first question on all this has nothing to do with the point they were making. My burning question is something along the lines of, "Why the hell are so many people so damn unhappy with their lives, money or no money?!"

The point from Money Magazine here, though, is that there is this apparent threshold where once we have enough not to have to worry about paying the bills, the "happiness" that would ("should"?) come from more money just isn't there in our culture - at least statistically. At the point where we can take an occasional vacation, buy that car we really want, etc., it seems for most of us that it's going to take something other than more money to find that elusive thing called happiness.

I have studied this topic (money and happiness) from a more spiritual perspective. And what I have learned is that for me, money buys FREEDOM! And FREEDOM can be a critical link in finding true happiness. Freedom of mind, freedom of spirit, freedom of the heart. Freedom to discover who we really are and what we really love to do and LIVE OUR TRUTHS. And if we are working 50 or 60 hours a week at a job we dislike to pay the bills (because we allowed ourselves to get in over our heads), we are not free. Ergo, not happy.

To close this article, I will simply ask you, "Are you happy?" Is money a major contributor in your mind to that happiness (or lack thereof your unhappiness)? If you find yourself saying, "If only I had $X dollars in the bank, THEN I'd feel happy," I will simply ask you to dig a little deeper into your belief system. Because between you and me, that $X dollars you think will make everything beautiful and wonderful in your life is most likely an illusion at best - an excuse for inertia and not looking more deeply at your inner self at worst. I say this not in judgment, for I spent much of my life believing the same. I say it simply as food for thought.

And from one to another who HAS fallen into that mind trap - for me, at least, it was just that - a trap. An illusion. My happiness today has nothing to do with my income (which is now next to nothing on unemployment), nothing to do with status, nothing to do with what is or isn't in the bank. It runs so so so much deeper. And I had to learn that through asking that question of myself and really searching for the answer, "Does money - could money - would money - buy ME happiness?"